Surface mail
Surface mail, also known as sea mail, is mail that is transported by land and sea, rather than by air, as in airmail. Surface mail is significantly less expensive but slower than airmail, and thus is preferred for large or heavy, non-urgent items and is primarily used for sending packages, not letters.
History
The term "surface mail" arose as a retronym, following the development of airmail – a term was needed to describe traditional mail, for which purpose "surface mail" was coined. A more recent example of the same process is the term snail mail, following the development of email.By country
Australia
Australia Post offers international surface mail for parcels 2kg and over.Israel
The Israel Postal Company offers international surface mail.United States
In 2007, the US Postal Service discontinued its outbound international surface mail service, mainly because of increased costs. Returned undeliverable surface parcels had become an expensive problem for the USPS, since it was often required to take such parcels back.Domestic surface mail remains available. Surface mail transportation also remains available to certain overseas military and diplomatic posts.
Alternatives to international surface mail include:
- International Surface Air Lift. The service includes neither tracking nor insurance; but it may be possible to purchase shipping insurance from a third-party company. This service uses air transportation to leave the US but is then entered into the destination country's surface mail network.
- USPS Commercial ePacket. The service is trackable.
- Ordinary first-class international airmail.
- Asendia USA,
- Globegistics, and
- APC Postal Logistics.